PulseAudio doesn't work when pipewire is installed (ie. KDE)

[Pablo Pedrotti]

After an upgrade pulseaudio does not run properly after boot unless I restart the service with the command systemctl --user restart pulseaudio. Reinstalling the service with the comand apt-get install --reinstall pulseaudio also solves the issue.

I am currently running Kubuntu 20.10 and the pulseaudio version is 1:13.99.2-1ubuntu2.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.10
Package: pulseaudio 1:13.99.2-1ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-26.27-generic 5.8.14
Uname: Linux 5.8.0-26-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu50
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ppedrotti 1572 F.... pipewire-media-
                      ppedrotti 5420 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/seq: ppedrotti 1567 F.... pipewire
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Wed Nov 4 23:13:09 2020
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-10-17 (18 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 20.04.1 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200731)
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to groovy on 2020-10-24 (12 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 12/07/2015
dmi.bios.release: 0.0
dmi.bios.vendor: Insyde Corp.
dmi.bios.version: V1.10
dmi.board.asset.tag: Type2 - Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: Robin_BA
dmi.board.vendor: Acer
dmi.board.version: V1.10
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
dmi.chassis.version: V1.10
dmi.ec.firmware.release: 1.7
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnInsydeCorp.:bvrV1.10:bd12/07/2015:br0.0:efr1.7:svnAcer:pnAspireE5-432:pvrV1.10:rvnAcer:rnRobin_BA:rvrV1.10:cvnAcer:ct10:cvrV1.10:
dmi.product.family: BSW
dmi.product.name: Aspire E5-432
dmi.product.sku: Aspire E5-432
dmi.product.version: V1.10
dmi.sys.vendor: Acer

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

It looks like pipewire might have stolen some of the audio interfaces from pulseaudio. Please try uninstalling pipewire.

[Pablo Pedrotti (ppedrotti)]

Uninstalling pipewire fixed the issue. Now both the speakers and the microphone work properly.

[Mark Abbott (markwabbott)]

I can confirm that once I upgraded to Kubuntu 20.10, not sound has been produced through the speakers.

Pulseaudio is 1:13.99.2-1ubuntu2, as noted above

Removing pipewire and restarting did not solve the issue.

[Mark Abbott (markwabbott)]

Something changed. I have only ever plugged in one wire from my speakers, but out of curiosity I plugged the other two in and it started working just fine... in 5.1 sound. I don't know if the upgrade changed some setting in the background, but it is sorted out and better sound.

[Bohdan (bohdan-linda)]

It seems that if soundspeakers are connected to rear analog out, after boot pipewire will not play sound. Either remove pipewire or unplug and plug speakers fixes the issue